Hello Railfans!
Top of the morn to ya! We have a balmy 30 something outside with a promise of appocolypse and delivery of nada. The folks with the microphone are saying were gonna have a 'white Christmas' this year. Humbug!
Ken: Hey there! Have a few on me and Happy Holidays to ya!
Ed: Man what a video! Is it just me or do our British friends have a real knack-n-flaire for celebration? Then again, Id expect nothing less from Her Majesty's services. Along with Dave, Im, 'ing .
In general: Spent the better part of yesterday doing what i said id do. By the end of the day i have 6 new 42' flats 75% complete (body wise). I have only the frame/bolsters to print and possibly the trucks. Im still debating those.
On a sweeter note, after two weeks my wheel sets finally came in. Now i can get some of these new models on the test track. Did notice i think im about to experience a coupler shortage and dont relish having to order any - tis the season ya know. (another 3+ weeks to get???) How i long for the days of the brick and morters just down the street!
Gonna have to get that new spray rig soon, too. The undec pile is piling up! For now though i have nothing better to do today than finish the flats. My only tough decision today? What to binge watch while im waitin on the printer. That and whats for dinner.
For the moment I think ill go read n reply to some of the other interesting posts here because thats about all from my side of the fence. Until later my friends!
All the best!
Douglas
Good Afternoon all.
Two short films of around my adopted home.
I live near the final section of this next film
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
PM Railfan Is it just me or do our British friends have a real knack-n-flaire for celebration? Then again, Id expect nothing less from Her Majesty's services.
Join the Royal Navy and — wear a silly Santa sweater???
These good blokes sure know how to pass the time at sea
Cheers, everyone! Ed
Tag Ed your it! Were jumping opposite betwixt posts. go read what i just posted youll just love it! Btw, i like double chocolate glazed.
NorthBritI live near the final section of this next film
That is a beautiful area David.
Sure looks cold!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Good morning everyone. Nice Sunday so far. Both my girls were confirmed at church this morning. Grand total of about 18 people there to put on the virtual service and partake in the confirmation. The pastor did the confimation first, then we split (with the pastor's blessing). Everyone wearing masks and socially distancing, but no sense staying in a closed in space any longer than necessary.
Bought some Front Range box cars that just arrived. First go at these kits and I'm really disappointed. Of all the issues, the worst is that all three kits came with the parts pouch sealed and in it there are pins for holding the trucks in place (meh) and nothing to hold the coupler pocket cover in place! No screws, pins, anything! Had to pilfer an old Walthers car for couple screws, but I'm not so sure I have two more in "parts" condition to do that with to complete the other kits. Anyone know where I can get the right size screws?
Mike
Water Level RouteBought some Front Range box cars that just arrived. First go at these kits and I'm really disappointed.
Front Range boxcar kits had a lot of issues. They are no where near as good as Proto-2000, Intermountain, or Red Caboose.
I always mount couplers in Kadee coupler boxes, so that is not an issue with me. I have used Central Valley underframes beneath mine to solve the truck mounting issues, but I have lots of those on hand.
I also use Tichy ladders and different grab irons.
As a general rule, I only buy Front Range kits if they are almost free.
SeeYou190As a general rule, I only buy Front Range kits if they are almost free.
Howdy .....
Mike .... I don't have any of that brand of freight cars, but usually a 2-56 screw is the size. It looks like Kevin has some good ideas.
Kevin ... That Pizza looked very good.
David in UK .... I enjoyed the videos. Thanks for sharing them .
...
Everybody ..... If you want to see my video of trains running across my "Mrs. Hippy River" bridge, you can see it in my post of this morning in Week End Photo Fun.
Have a good evening, everyone.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Heartland Division CB&QKevin ... That Pizza looked very good.
It sure was good, and we had enough for three days!
A few days ago I posted my new El-Cheapo drill press from Harbor Freight and said I needed it to drill 33 holes for a shelving project.
It worked, all the shelves are now mounted to the wall. I need to build the sides for them tomorrow.
Then I used the drill press to machine 360 holes into 120 blank dice. It held up well enough, but now it is having problems. The spindle run-out is way excessive, and it is making a clicking noise.
I cannot describe how very poorly made this tool was, but it did what I needed it to do and now it can go away.
And the dice:
Nice job on the shelves Kevin!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I found out late on Saturday that I don't have Covid-19, thank goodness!! I still have some chest congestion but it's not serious. I hope it's gone by Christmas.
hon30critterI found out late on Saturday that I don't have Covid-19
This is great news!
I hope you get well soon.
Thanks Kevin,
P.S. What are the dice for? Just curious.
Monday morning already!
Here's an interesting peek at the Bowser tool and die and molding process hosted by Lee English:
Quite an investment there!
[[edit]]
Someone did some Monday morning shuffling of the posts and I find myself at the top of the page yet again!
DONUTS for everyone!
donuts by Edmund, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed
gmpullmanHere's an interesting peek at the Bowser tool and die and molding process hosted by Lee English:
Hi Ed,
Very interesting! Thanks!
Good morning all. Tea and toast is on the table along with the marmalade.
As a new strain of Covid hits the UK the borders are seemingly closed.
SeeYou190 NorthBrit I live near the final section of this next film That is a beautiful area David. Sure looks cold! -Kevin
NorthBrit I live near the final section of this next film
Kevin. That's quite warm.
Garry, Glad you like the films. It is my pleasure.
Six and half minutes of Northumberland in the company of Mark Knopfler.
Trains at Carlisle Station.
At York
West Coast Railways Class 33 No. 33207, Class 37 37706 No. & Jubilee Class 4-6-0 No. 45699 Galatea (in the guise of 45562 Alberta) at York with The Scarborough Spa Express on 20th August 2020. There are some early morning views of the station proceeding the train clips
Thoughts and Prayers to All who Require.
Coffee Time.
Thoresby Colliery 'train ride'.
Westoe Colliery Railway 1988
Good Morning All,
A regular to go and a blueberry bagel with creamcheese please Zoe. Coffee time all the time here in the states but a bagel is a better bet than crackers in the morning.
Thank you David. I've been following much of what you've posted and it's quite enjoyable. Sorry to hear of all the bother with the new strain of the plague but at least so far it seems that the new vaccines are effective against it.
Back to it now,lots to keep up with. Ciao, J.R.
Good morning, diners. I'll have black coffee to go.
We're leaving in a couple of minutes to visit the new granddaughter. Since we quarantined for several weeks, we will be able to see the new kid.
I will try to check in to the diner when we get there.
York1 John
Good afternoon Diners. Afternoon cream tea and scones with strawberry jam.
At Dawlish. Apparently social distancing and the wearing of masks are not the rule 'down south'.
hon30critterP.S. What are the dice for? Just curious.
The dice are for the board games in the Axis And Allies series.
Combat units in A&A have different hit classes, 1, 2, 3, 4, and (in special cases) 5. When playing the game, you need to roll each hit class seperately, and that slows things down a lot.
These dice have pips on different numbers of surfaces.
Green: 1, Blue: 2, Red: 3, Purple: 4, and Yellow: 5
So in a combat event, you just grab the appropriate dice for each hit class in combat and roll them together. Only one roll per side per round of combat. This should be much faster.
This roll shows two bombers (HC:4), three tanks (HC:3), one fighter plane (HC:3), two artillery (HC:2), and four infantry (HC:1) on the assault, all rolled together, and scoring six hits.
This should make for much faster, and more fun, gameplay.
Kevin if you like history, you should listen to Dan Carlin's podcast, Supernova in the East about the rise of Japan and the war in the Pacific. It's a series of podcasts, each a couple hours long, where he tell you the story interspersed with dramatic readings of first person accounts. Warning he does dwell on the horrific parts of human experience in all his podcasts.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BigDaddyKevin if you like history, you should listen to Dan Carlin's podcast
I listened to a lot of Dan Carlin's presentations in his Hardcore History series several years ago when I commuted back and forth to Tampa. He is entertaining, but he gets a little too hyperbolic in his descriptions for my usual taste.
I have found several lectures from Oxford University in their podcast series that are much more to my liking. I tend to like histories from England more. They are very academic and fact filled compared to what we produce over here.
I have not heard anything in Carlin's Supernova, I will check it out.. eventually. I need to wait until my wife is away. She hates listening to podcasts with me.
About three weeks ago I made some small fruit parcels. Fruit in filo pastry. They turned out nt quite as expected, but they were eaten all the same.
Today I had a go at sweet mince pies for Christmas. A success as half have gone already. There will be none left by Wednesday.
Now to start on a chicken and vegetable stir fry.
Top of the mornin to ya! A sunny day producing a heat wave of 48f here. Gonna have to break back out the short pants and sunbloc. Had a good day yesterday.
As mentioned i was gonna work on those cars again. i did. Till i was bleary eyed! I managed to get 6 printed but ran short of trucks so only 3 made it to the test track. Ran out of Kadees too, gosh doggonit! I have to pat myself on the back here guys, im tickled Daylight colors on how they turned out. I am really looking forward to the 53'ers. Im rather flatcar deficient in my collection. Which kinda brings me too....
Ed: Awesome video of Bowser! Kinda makes what i do in 3d printing/resin molding pretty insignificant ! I had the occasion to speak with Mr. English a few years back. Man, what a guy! A real Modeller's Manufacturer! He took the time to answer my questions, give details, offer explanations, and relay the information I called for. All this aside from just plain conversation - like we are doing now. Polite and gentlemen like, it was a real pleasure to speak with him. Every bit the makings of a person who could play Santa Claus... and pull it off!
Similar note: Always been fascinated with injection molding. Since i was a kid and got started in Model Railroading i always wanted to make trains. In the 90's, had the opportunity to do some contract work. A Coca-Cola bottle making plant was on the rounds. Fascinating!
From pellets just like the Bowser video (except delivered in the semi equivillent of a covered hopper instead of bags) to finished product ... the infamous 2 litre bottle. The machines were different (molds too obviously), ofcourse. The Coke machines had a carousel with about a dozen inline vertical tubes. They all fit a mold like core rods do in a nuke core. They were smaller than the Bowser machines.
Amazing to watch the procedure, the pellets are started just like Bowser does, then they are shaped into a 'test tube' with the cap threads already in place. From there to the carousel, where they are "blown up" like a ballon into a 2 litre shape. I busted out laughing when I saw a 2L bottle was nothing more than a chilled down testube balloon!
I would absolutely love to tour an operating model factory. Especially that stamping maching for lettering. That in itself would prove VERY interesting technology alone.
Ok folks, thats pretty much it. Prolly if i had to guess next thing on the modelling to do list is print somemore trucks and get out a Kadee order. Though I have reservations about that. Not sure if i wanna test the seasonal waters right now.
PM RailfanTop of the mornin to ya! A sunny day producing a heat wave of 48f here.
I am so sorry to hear this. I have my air conditioner on because it is so hot outside.
I am finishing up the shelving in the spare bedroom. Cutting the biscuity slots accurately is proving to be quite a challange, but I have not messed anything up yet.
I have been going through the photographs saved on my computer.
I found this one, taken just about a year ago.
How much has changed since then... My workshop has been taken down, and my house is all apart. I have lost fifteen pounds. I am no longer employed. I still have that shirt, but now I use it when I am working drywall mud or painting.
I really miss my workshop.
Good morning all. Tea and toast with marmalade is made.
It's Christmas time. Chill out.
A Film of Freight Trains in the North of England.
Thoughts and Peace to All who Require.
Coffee Time
12th December 2020
Crewe station at the heart of the West Coast Mainline and major interchange station for services between London, Scotland, Liverpool & Manchester as well as Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Chester, Holyhead, Shrewsbury, Hereford & South Wales. The reason for todays visit was to catch the Blue Pullman HST on its railtour to/from St Pancras. As well as the HST, lots more action from Crewe including, Avanti Pendolino's & Voyagers, London north western 350's, Transport For Wales 175's & 153's, Northern 319's & 323's also a 150, which is rare at Crewe and a DB Schenker 66 shunting.
Enjoy and stay safe.