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Is anything driving you crazy right now?

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  • Member since
    November 2008
  • From: Miles City, MT
  • 375 posts
Posted by P&Slocal on Friday, February 8, 2019 4:51 PM

Lack of time, lack of money, lack of vision. I have a room 11 x 23 and have it drawn out on paper in a 2 foot grid. Thinking of only using 11 x 15 as layout space. The more I read, the worse I get. Now I am thinking double deck with a helix.

Maybe I ought to just start something and go with the flow.

Robert H. Shilling II

  • Member since
    January 2004
  • From: Canada, eh?
  • 13,375 posts
Posted by doctorwayne on Thursday, February 7, 2019 10:48 PM

SeeYou190
Too bad Canadian National never owned a Baldwin RF-16, because Rapido would have already made us a beautiful model....

You're probably right about that, Kevin.

How bad were the ones from Model Power?  I had several of their FA/FB units, and while they weren't as accurate as later offerings (especially those from Rapido), they didn't look all that bad to me.  They were also excellent runners, with a huge can motor that could handle a lot of extra weight, making them excellent pullers. 

I still have four of these, all-powered, despite no longer modelling the diesel era, and another 4 or 5, also all powered, in various factory paint schemes and undecorated, too, stored in boxes...

I modified these two into an FPA-4/FPB-4 set, and regret selling them, even though I have no use for them....

If the contours of the nose weren't correct or the shape of the windshield was wrong, it never bothered me.  They were great runners and fantastic pullers, too. 
The Model Power Sharks used the same drivetrain and motor, and some of my FAs, if I recall correctly, had the same underframe as was used in the Sharks, narrowed at the front end. 

With some wire grabs and a few other details, I'd guess that you could come up with a decent representation...better, in my opinion, than not having one at all.

I changed the body panels to better match the real FPA-FPB-4s, along with the fuel tanks...

Wayne

    

  • Member since
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  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Thursday, February 7, 2019 6:50 PM

Too bad Canadian National never owned a Baldwin RF-16, because Rapido would have already made us a beautiful model.

.

STRATTON AND GILLETTE management desperately want an A/B set of these locomotives, so I hope if they ever do get made, an undecorated DC set is an option.

.

-Kevin

.

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    July 2002
  • From: Jersey City
  • 1,925 posts
Posted by steemtrayn on Thursday, February 7, 2019 5:09 PM

rrebell

 

 
steemtrayn

We can have this...Image result for new haven ep5

this...

Image result for broadway limited imports p5a

aImage result for broadway limited imports s2

but we can't have this...

Image result for prr baldwin sharknose

 

 

 

You aren't going to like this but just saw one a week or so ago. Looked at it because I admired the work but didn't need it

 

 

Brass, right? I have an A-B-A set, factory painted from Oriental, but I'm waiting for someone to mass produce them in plastic. The excuses  I get don't make sense to me, when those other limited interest units are being made. (Which, by the way, is a good thing.)

  • Member since
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  • From: west coast
  • 7,667 posts
Posted by rrebell on Thursday, February 7, 2019 3:51 PM

steemtrayn

We can have this...Image result for new haven ep5

this...

Image result for broadway limited imports p5a

and this...

Image result for broadway limited imports s2

but we can't have this...

Image result for prr baldwin sharknose

WHY????

Image result for broadway limited imports s2

 

You aren't going to like this but just saw one a week or so ago. Looked at it because I admired the work but didn't need it

  • Member since
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  • From: 4610 Metre's North of the Fortyninth on the left coast of Canada
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Posted by BATMAN on Thursday, February 7, 2019 3:45 PM

Not knowing what I don't know. At least when I find out what I don't know it is easily fixed.

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

  • Member since
    February 2008
  • 8,878 posts
Posted by maxman on Thursday, February 7, 2019 1:36 PM

SeeYou190
What is eating at you right now?

Gilbert Grape

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  • From: SE. WI.
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Posted by mbinsewi on Thursday, February 7, 2019 12:21 PM

I just looked again,

1- Athearn PA, which I guess is too "old" I think they 40's and 50's

1- Bachmann GP38-2 with DCC, I have a couple of these, they run great for the money.

1- Athearn SD45, also good runners, and good DCC conversion candidates.

All painted and lettered for the D & H, and all under $60.

Mike.

  • Member since
    June 2007
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Posted by riogrande5761 on Thursday, February 7, 2019 11:26 AM

Harrison

Did I mention that I am looking for 4-axle, 1970's and 80's locos? Maybe I am to picky.

Should be plenty of 4-axle loco's for that time frame on Ebay.  A few examples that come to mind:

Atlas GP38 GP40

Proto 2000 GP7/GP9/GP30/GP38

Athearn blue box and RTR GP35, GP40-2

Athearn Genesis GP40-2, GP9


I'm not up on GE loco's but some can offer makers of 4-axle versons of them.

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

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Posted by Harrison on Thursday, February 7, 2019 11:09 AM

mbinsewi

 

 
Harrison
Trying to find good running D&H locomotives for less than $60!?

 

There are a couple on Ebay right now, Athearn, Atlas.

Mike.

 

Did I mention that I am looking for 4-axle, 1970's and 80's locos? Maybe I am to picky.

Harrison

Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.

Modeling the D&H in 1978.

Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"

My YouTube

  • Member since
    April 2018
  • From: Northern NY (Think Upstate but even more)
  • 1,306 posts
Posted by Harrison on Thursday, February 7, 2019 11:08 AM

mbinsewi

 

 
Harrison
Trying to find good running D&H locomotives for less than $60!?

 

There are a couple on Ebay right now, Athearn, Atlas.

Mike.

 

Did I mention that I am looking for 4-axle, 1970's and 80's locos?

Harrison

Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.

Modeling the D&H in 1978.

Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"

My YouTube

  • Member since
    February 2008
  • 2,360 posts
Posted by kasskaboose on Thursday, February 7, 2019 11:00 AM

For trains or in general?  If trains, getting each piece of track wired with feeders.  I hate wiring!  At least I have a process for doing it that makes sense to me.

  • Member since
    May 2010
  • From: SE. WI.
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Posted by mbinsewi on Thursday, February 7, 2019 9:35 AM

Harrison
Trying to find good running D&H locomotives for less than $60!?

There are a couple on Ebay right now, Athearn, Atlas.

Mike.

  • Member since
    April 2018
  • From: Northern NY (Think Upstate but even more)
  • 1,306 posts
Posted by Harrison on Thursday, February 7, 2019 9:11 AM

Trying to find good running D&H locomotives for less than $60!?

Harrison

Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.

Modeling the D&H in 1978.

Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"

My YouTube

  • Member since
    June 2007
  • 8,892 posts
Posted by riogrande5761 on Thursday, February 7, 2019 6:01 AM

Last basement progress photo's was from about a month ago, here are current:

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

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Posted by steemtrayn on Thursday, February 7, 2019 5:21 AM

Silverliner266

 

 
steemtrayn

We can have this...WHY????

Image result for broadway limited imports s2

 

 

 

 

This drives me crazy, one of the brass manufactureres even went as far as to make one of these in N scale but no one has ever done a Reading T-1. I would pay good money for that just to have a Ramble on my layout. 

 

You'll probably gey your T1 before I get my BP20.

 

 

  • Member since
    April 2013
  • 917 posts
Posted by Southgate on Thursday, February 7, 2019 2:03 AM

Not real nuts, but enough to get me going on it. A caboose shortage. The track is all in and working, I've been enjoying running trains. There is room for 6 trains in staging. Only 3 cabeese on the layout, and 4 box shaker kits in storage. So today, (Wed) I got 'em out, glazed the windows, put Kadees and metal wheels on them and got 'em on the rails.Smile

Dr Wayne: Those Korber Roundhouses leave a lot to be desired, don't they? I framed mine up with tight grained wood cut on a table saw. Expanded to 6 stalls, it's not complete, but is in use on the layout. My roof is removable in 2 sections; the front section and the larger rear section. Dan

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Thursday, February 7, 2019 12:50 AM

Renegade1c
Since its 22 years old now I'm not sure a trip back to digitrax is going to help.

Have you looked into firmware upgrades, Renegade? I was having trouble getting my Duplex throttles and UR92s to play nice then I sat down and went through the firmware upgrade procedure one night and that solved a whole lot of problems.

http://www.digitrax.com/downloads/

 

or

https://www.dccguy.com/?p=4398

I don't know if this will help you with your exact problem but it might be worth looking into.

Good Luck, Ed

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: From Golden, CO living in Puyallup (Seattle), WA
  • 751 posts
Posted by Renegade1c on Thursday, February 7, 2019 12:42 AM

What's driving me crazy is that my signaling system all of a sudden started showing wierd signals aspects (green over green, green over yellow). Founnd out it's actually an issue with my digitrax command station. Apparently I have somehow overload the buffer in it. It's also having a hard time consisting for some reason. Since its 22 years old now I'm not sure a trip back to digitrax is going to help. I was able setup a temporary stand alone loconet minus the command station and everything worked perfectly. Now I need to decide if I want to separate the block detection and signaling from the actual train control DCC and have two isolated loconet connections or upgrade to a new command station.


Colorado Front Range Railroad: 
http://www.coloradofrontrangerr.com/

flag

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Thursday, February 7, 2019 12:35 AM

Track fiddler
Yeah.  Coming home every night waiting for my track and it's not there

Um, don't you have a tracking number for your track? 

Nearly all shippers provide them these days. Hope it arrives today!

Cheers, Ed

  • Member since
    August 2011
  • From: A Comfy Cave, New Zealand
  • 6,253 posts
Posted by "JaBear" on Thursday, February 7, 2019 12:16 AM

TIME, the lack thereof! Sad

"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."

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  • From: Wyoming, where men are men, and sheep are nervous!
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Posted by Pruitt on Wednesday, February 6, 2019 11:54 PM

I was right smack in the middle of installing my small roundhouse when I had to stop for a vacation trip to China. I left it just a bit further along than this:

 Two weeks left before I get home to continue work.

  • Member since
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  • From: SE. WI.
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Posted by mbinsewi on Wednesday, February 6, 2019 9:31 PM

Great!  It looks like a nice clean and dry area.

I did the furring strip, only from the layout up, not all the way down, insulated between the strips, because the top two courses of block are above grade.  From there down it's poured concrete.  I figured the extra little bit of insulation wouldn't hurt, than I drywalled it, and finished it, and painted the back drop on that.

I only WISH I would've done the ceiling.

Mike.

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: Maryland
  • 12,897 posts
Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Wednesday, February 6, 2019 9:21 PM

Well, if I was going to let something drive me crazy, like Wayne said, it would be a short walk.

But, I'm pretty calm and pragmatc most of the time.

I would like to get started on the actual layout construction, but work is really busy, and the track plan is not quite done - hope to finish that up real soon. I'm expecting to be able to begin benchwork in the spring.

My new to me basement is unfinished, well it has painted block walls and a painted floor......

I do plan to install some sort of ceiling system, like a drop ceiling but  different....more on that later. I would never install drywall on a basement ceiling of house I plan to live in - it is an invitation for repairs that require cutting holes in it........ 

And I will not be framing any walls, or installing any drywall. What would that accomplish other than subtract nearly a foot from the length and width of the space?

The layout will be around virtually all the walls, and I will install backdrop material on furring strips, or directly on the block walls from the benchwork up.

No need for insulation down there, the whole basement is below grade, it is comfortably warm in winter, and cool in summer just the way it is.

 

Ready to get started as soon as time allows......

Sheldon

    

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    July 2006
  • From: Huntsville, AR
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Posted by oldline1 on Wednesday, February 6, 2019 9:14 PM

Well,I retired 6 years ago with grand visions of a large version of the Western Maryland Thomas Subdivision. One thing led to another and I finally got a new building constructed, wired, heated, ACed and finished last May. It's 14x16 rather than the planned 20x30 but I can live with that.

What's driving me nuts is the pace I'm making on the layout. I have the benchwork up and all the cork down and sanded. My work bench is done and the paint booth awaits a new blower. It seems every time I start working something gets in the way. Allergies, bad back, family obligations and a ton of other things. Seems like every time I make plans to get out there something comes up! Just can't win! But it still beats the daily grind of the airline and aircraft!

oldline1

  • Member since
    March 2017
  • 8,173 posts
Posted by Track fiddler on Wednesday, February 6, 2019 8:48 PM

Yeah.  Coming home every night waiting for my track and it's not thereTongue TiedSad

TF

  • Member since
    November 2018
  • From: Just another small town in Ohio
  • 268 posts
Posted by Erie1951 on Wednesday, February 6, 2019 5:27 PM

What's driving me crazy right now? I've been opening up manufacturer's original boxes containing HO RTR or built kits of rolling stock, safely stored, only to find broken detail parts, couplers off, etc. Looks like I have my work cut out for me and I hope that I have enough glue to get it all back into place on the models! Sigh

Russ

Modeling the early '50s Erie in Paterson, NJ.  Here's the link to my railroad postcard collection: https://railroadpostcards.blogspot.com/

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  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Wednesday, February 6, 2019 5:15 PM

riogrande5761

 

 
rrinker
 
riogrande5761

Not being able to build a layout because the basement isn't finished yet and it's a big job.  That's what is eating at me for about a half a year now.

As my British wife says, just "soldier on".

 

 Change it to almost 5 years. Oh and first I have to "unfinish" the basement, and I'm right there.

                                                 --Randy

 

 

What do you mean unfinish it?  Do you have to rip out drywall?

We are making good progress.  The frustration is it's a bit like "a watched pot never boils" - the pot does boil but sometimes perception is it takes a lot longer than we would like and we get impatient.

Aug - Oct 2018: Electrical, plumbing and pre-rough inspection stuff was completed while other working was being done on the house and taking precident.

Nov: Permit to finish acquired.

Early Dec: started drywalling:

Early Jan: most walls drywalled:

Those beams and vents boxed in on the ceiling (seen in 2nd photo) are all drywalled now as well and all metal corners installed - some of them mudded.

Instead of drywalling ceiling, installing suspended (drop) ceiling to keep access to wiring and plumbing easier.  Plan to install 2x2 troffer lights.

 

 Well, it's currently finished into 4 areas, the laundry area is still bare cinderblock, but the other 3 rooms each have a different pattern of paneling, nailed right to some 2x3s, no insulation, no proper header and footer. And the floor is carpeted with a disgustingly dirty carpet that has to come out, and there is a drop ceiling but the tiles look like they are ancient, or at least very dingy and stained. SO it all has to come out, so I can put up proper walls and do it right. i WISH it was completely unfinished, that would have been much easier to deal with. Oh and in one section there is a really crappy bar. Liek REALLY bad, not worth doing anything but taking a sledge and some crowbars to. After I remove the plumbing to the sink - inlets only, there is no drain! It just runs out on the floor (or I guess the put a bucket there). 

                                      --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

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Posted by riogrande5761 on Wednesday, February 6, 2019 10:52 AM

eaglescout

Don't close on the new house until February 14th.  Have plans drawn for the new layout but itching to start construction.  Plan to box in a back corner of the garage to cut down on dust and that I am able to climate control.

Sounds like a good plan to prepare the room for the layout before building.  No basement?  How big is the layout area going to be?

I knew I would have at least a year after closing before I could start on my layout.  Looks like it's going to be around 18 months but the house was neglected and bank owned when we bought it and we knew there was going to be a lot of money and time invested from the git-go.

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

  • Member since
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Posted by dknelson on Wednesday, February 6, 2019 10:34 AM

doctorwayne
a few days ago, I decided to re-visit that stalled project. While it's going well-enough, I'm also going through Evergreen strip styrene at an alarming rate (over $130.00 worth last week). I hope that the additional stuff that I ordered at that time comes in soon, or the project will soon stall again.

Gasp!  That's .... that's ... that's a lot of styrene!  But bless you Dr Wayne for helping keep the good folks at Evergreen in business.  

Dave Nelson

PS the punster in me can't help note that if you are going to "stall" on a project, what better project for stalls than a roundhouse?  Angel  

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