Good morning again
We found out there's an egg shortage among other empty shelves when we went to the grocery yesterday.
We always have a big breakfast brunch Saturday morning. Feels almost like a Train Wreck now that I don't know what I'm going to eat here.
https://youtu.be/xicjW79gAts
You can't start feeding humans everyday and then just stop. They become dependent on it and could starve to death in the winter time......
TF
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Good morning Diners. A large coffee and blueberry muffin please, Chloe.
Gosh! All this wiring and 'elektrickery' stuff I had to check I was on the right thread. lol. Interesting though.
Woodpeckers. I have never seen one. I did receive a glowing commendation from my schoolteacher when I drew a picture of one.
Taking Dawn to a local Mall where she can exercise her body.
Hopefully I will run trains later.
Thoughts & Peace to All who Require.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Good morning
Enjoyed seeing quite a few pileated woodpeckers where I grew up north. I agree a magnificent bird. A common problem for some is the male will find the highest point that makes the loudest knock. A mating ritual to attract a female candidate in the spring.
In rural areas in the cities I would get inquiries from people for repair on their tall wooden chimney enclosures. They're hollow so they make a terrific amplified knock sound. I felt sorry for these people as I would be thinking as soon as you make the repair the Pecker will just come back and do it again.
They would tell me they can't find anybody to do the repairs. I didn't want to do them either as it was too high up and I saw too many trips up and down a tall ladder if you even had one tall enough. I've always been a two-story carpenter and after that I'm afraid of heights. I would do the job I was there for and refer them to a company with a lift or more scaffolding tears (tiers) than I had...
Speaking of too high up, I couldn't find any high ones but there's plenty of low ones down there.
https://youtu.be/1TYzMfGWKR4
Good Evening,
John, nice score on the piliated! We get them from time to time in our yard. They go for the suet log. It is a 2' piece of log with holes drilled in it that we stuff with suet. It hangs from a hook and is big enough for a piliated to land. They are an amazing bird and always seem pre-historic to me. They usually announce their arrival with a loud wok-wok. A piliated needs a large range and we get them even though we are in the city because the river is nearby with a wooded shore plus we are beside a golf course that borders the university that has a large experimental farm along the river.
CN Charlie
gmpullmanYep, Brent, the Mack is a kit. I'll step into the train lab and see if I still have the box. {edit} Yep, mine is from Walker Models. There were similar or maybe the same from SS Ltd. and On-track. Wiseman makes a current kit: https://wisemanmodelservices.com/HO-SCALE-MACK-BR-SPECIAL-SWITCHER-KIT
Hi Ed and Brent,
I beat you to it! I have one of the Mack kits. It is a nicely made little model. Thanks to advice from Darth Santa Fe, I was able to motorize it, almost that is. I got it running nicely with working lights and DCC too, but the motor conked out. I tweaked the gears and put in a second motor but it fried too. For now it sits on the repair shelf. I think I will have to rebuild the drive system.
Here is the home built frame for the drive system:
Here is the assembled drive:
Here are a couple of my scratchbuilt critters:
This one has sound:
Here it is in its monthly parts:
I started this twin for the critter in my avatar a long time ago and lost interest. It just needs a roof and paint to finish it:
I remotored this kit with a Bull Ant drive and added DCC with sound. This shows how many wires had to be stuffed in!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Track fiddlerDo you suppose the track separated from contraction due to the Heat of the Day?
Or they ran out of money? They ran short and the track store was closed?
Santa_Fe_Kevin by Edmund, on Flickr
Yep, Brent, the Mack is a kit. I'll step into the train lab and see if I still have the box. {edit} Yep, mine is from Walker Models. There were similar or maybe the same from SS Ltd. and On-track. Wiseman makes a current kit:
https://wisemanmodelservices.com/HO-SCALE-MACK-BR-SPECIAL-SWITCHER-KIT
Jordan made a model of a different Mack.
Love those Macks!
KEESHIN_TOFC by Edmund, on Flickr
MazdaMackW by Edmund, on Flickr
BC&G Mack railbus A by Trainiac, on Flickr
https://www.brasstrains.com/Classic/Product/Detail/113177/HO-Brass-Model-WMC-Mack-Railbus-Rail-Bus-One-of-a-Kind-Pilot-Model-Unpainted-Made-in-Japan
This is a Mack, too. Ran on the New Haven:
150925_3_danbury by lmyers83, on Flickr
While not a mack, still a pretty spiffy "pre RDC" bus:
GMC_Bus by Edmund, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed
gmpullman Brennan's Perch Dinner by Craig Sanders, on Flickr Willow bridge, 1992 by Fred Clark, Jr., on Flickr
Brennan's Perch Dinner by Craig Sanders, on Flickr
Willow bridge, 1992 by Fred Clark, Jr., on Flickr
I like your new EP-5 Jet Ed Always loved a good shark nose. And thanks for the fish fry
Do you suppose the track separated from contraction due to the Heat of the Day?
I'll see your bridge and I'll raise ya one
https://youtu.be/TpwKVPbJpUo
I think you posted a pic of this one before?
gmpullman Hey, I represent that! (Someday I'll finish it ) Mack_goat by Edmund, on Flickr I forget where I picked it up?
Is that a kit Ed? Here I was throwing out another tease to Dave the critter man thinking it was something he would have to scratch build.
How about the Mack railbus, got one of those?
I went tile shopping with the boss as well as cabinet shopping. Somebody, please shoot me. The liquor store was a must after that. My daughter got held up and is now coming home tomorrow morning. I was hoping for an evening of listening to her play the piano, oh well what's another day?
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
York1Ed, it sure looks like the same bridge,
Pretty sure it is, between Palmetto and Bradenton. Here's Fred Clark's caption:
A closer presentation of the American Freedom Train crossing the ex ACL trestle and draw bridge span between Palmetto and Bradenton. The famous train was on its way to a Sarasota showing, Dec.7, 1976.
Another look:
Bradenton, II, 1976 by Fred Clark, Jr., on Flickr
Seems like the SCL has to re-glue the Yard Limit sign to its post!
Regards, Ed
gmpullman Is this the same bridge John posted? Closer, 1976 by Fred Clark, Jr., on Flickr Cheers, Ed
Is this the same bridge John posted?
Closer, 1976 by Fred Clark, Jr., on Flickr
Ed, it sure looks like the same bridge, but I know that in Florida there are quite a few bridges across the canals and rivers, so it's hard for me to tell for sure.
York1 John
BATMANAll the best to all.
Hey, I represent that!
(Someday I'll finish it )
Mack_goat by Edmund, on Flickr
I forget where I picked it up?
STILL cold and rainy here... To the TRAINS!
maxmanA Wawa Shorti
Unfortunately, the closest Wawa to me is 311 miles away. Looks tasty, though
The Freedom Train in St. Pete:
American Freedom Train, St. Petersburg display by Fred Clark, Jr., on Flickr
A very capable "fireman?"
Ginny on the ladder, 1977 by Fred Clark, Jr., on Flickr
I've never tried to fire wearing platform shoes before. Might be tricky to hit the firedoor pedal?
gmpullman The original "shorty": CN_Plough_55401 by Edmund, on Flickr
The original "shorty":
CN_Plough_55401 by Edmund, on Flickr
A Wawa Shorti
Good afternoon, diners. No food today -- just coffee.
Ed, thanks for the fish. I'm having salmon tonight, so I'll get my share today.
up831and came across this wire shelf that was installed upside down. I showed it to one of the supervisors and he offered to help re-install it if I wanted to do it. So, last night we re-installed the shelf.
That a compliment to you, Jim. There are many employees who would not take the time or effort to fix something unless they were pushed into it.
Charlie and other bird lovers, on our trip last week, I had a first for me. I know that several of you have mentioned piliated woodpeckers. I have never seen one before, which leads me to believe they aren't very common in Nebraska. However, last week in the forest, my granddaughter and I saw one! It was the first one I've ever seen.
BroadwayLionYes, we are too old to climb under tables. But of course, I assume you are using tortoise switch machines, so we start this bakwards and work to the finished product.
Lion, when I get to the installation of the switch machines, maybe you could get your superior to give you time off, and you could travel several states south and help me install my switches. I'm not looking forward to it.
Mister Beasley, I've heard that joke before about the word 'politic' but I didn't ever think about the tick not being an insect. I'm not real fast on picking up things like that.
Track fiddlerP.S. VERY EASY...Yeah, Right...
TF, I'm with you. For people like Lion, it seems easy. For me, it's Greek, and I don't know Greek.
Brent, enjoy your daughter's visit. It seems that when they get married and have families of their own, you don't get to see them quite as often.
Everyone I haven't mentioned, I hope you have a good Friday!
Bradenton, Florida, bridge over the Manatee River:
Good Afternoon,
Well it is a cool day with a strong wind. No melting for a couple od days.
Brent, if your grandparents were being evacuated by boat, that would be the 1950 flood. Things were quiet until the 1997 flood. I remember a pump in the basement in 1950. It fascinated a 3 year old. Mum said we had to stop pumping, let the basement flood and move to my grandparents for a couple of weeks. I don't remember that. In those days the only thing in the basement was a coal fired furnace so not much to get ruined.
Doing a grocery run soon.
Have a nice day,
Good morning from the sunny land of peace and quiet.
Went outside with the coffee this morning and the silence was deafening, I need to break out the patio furniture so I can just sit and take it all in.
My daughter is coming home today for a last break before exams start, she also has to give some lectures and her mentoring/counseling program is also keeping her busy as students start to have meltdowns over exams starting. We won't see her too much as she will be in her room working but being able to take a break to play the piano or go for a long walk with the dogs really recharges her batteries.
Today we are going almost into Vancouver to a custom cabinet place and then a tile place to pick stuff for the bathroom reno. Oh, joy.
Ed, nice looking loco, glad it is performing well. Speaking of fish, the wife came home with fresh Cod right off the boat on Wednesday, the perks of living on the Pacific Rim. It was sooooo good.
Always good to see Jimmy in the diner, you should stop by more often Jimmy.
Charlie, those Winnipeg floods were quite something. I have photos of my Mom, Grandparents, sister being evacuated by boat from the house. I think my Mom was very pregnant with me at the time.
John, good to see the new layout coming along. You will have to post a "once around" video once things are up and running.
Had to go to Defcon1 yesterday as my recumbent bike broke, it is currently in pieces but I am confident I can fix it. I have had it for 12 years and it has a gazzillion hours on it. Once the computer (on the bike) packed it in and because of the few things I learned through this hobby I was able to repair a circuit board and it has been fine ever since.
My Queen made roast chicken yesterday, I always eat the whole thing except for a bit of the breast I let the wife have. It was the best.
We'll probably have sushi tonight as we always get that on the way home from the Ferry when we pick up my daughter. I also need to stock up the bar, we are out of rum and whiskey, we have beer, but that has way too many carbs so I rarely touch the stuff.
York1The highrise hotel lost power several times, with the result of people sitting inside non-moving elevators. They didn't want that, so they stayed in the lobby until the storm passed.
My buddy and I were in Hawaii once on the 26 floor of the hotel, we never took the elevator up, only down. Racing up the stairs was the only way those Pinacolodas could be kept in check. In the morning we would make paper airplanes and throw them off the balcony and whoever's plane went the furthest had to buy the first round.
The grass is growing like crazy, I will be doing cut #2 this weekend, should hit 16c today. At one of the nurseries near here, they were unloading a couple of hundred full-size coconut palm trees off flatbed trucks. Apparently, they are for the movie industry, We saw this before where they turned several streets into some tropical local.
Got my F7B decoder back from Rapido, they reprogramed it for me to match the F7A's I had. I sent it to them in an envelope and they sent it back in a box full of popcorn. I still need to install it. Good guys at Rapido.
Always good to sit a spell at the diner, hopefully, we get a good crowd through this weekend.
A rainy day video from Wednesday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM7SmWxxrXk&ab_channel=BATTRAIN1
All the best to all.
Early to bed and early to rise at 4 a.m. so in no need of coffee and definitely not any donuts, Thank you.
Whale
To many definitions. Definitely not the obvious 1. & 2. so 3. was chosen as 4. & 5. leave very little room to be desired.
But Thanks for a whale of a wiring summary of your technique provided as I will be checking the link later when fixed. Lion wiring of preferred by me is
P.S. VERY EASY...Yeah, Right...
The comment was edited to what I meant as I beg your humble pardon in my prior post
Fiddler has both copies but the book is better. The movie made the character look too friendly.
And the spaceship too Willy Wonka-ish to make it magical for the Kids I guess.
Chariots of the Gods an interesting book even though I don't condone the title.
Track fiddlerI remember Lion posting all the wiring in the front panels that flipped up. It made pur-fect sence simplifying things. Hopefully he posts a picture of that one again.
Yes, whale,,,
First I have (at least) two bus wires that circle the layout. The top one is GROUND, and is wired to a hard ground (the grounding pin ou your electrical outlet). MUST be a hard ground else you will get stray voltages on it.
The second bus is +12V DC, and it tyically used for hotel power... stfreet lights, structures, etc.
Now if you use DCC you will need two conductors for your DCC system.
LION is all DC and connects the LEFT rail (In the track's norma direction to the GROUND bus. The Right rail is connected to your block systemor what ever. + Voltage moves the train forward... - voltage puts the train in reverse.
(LION GETS far more complicated than that.)
LION uses brass brads as binding posts for the wires of him. (Signals, relays, switch motors etc etc)
I might put 12 to 24 such brads in an array and then use a 12 pair cable to connect these back to my control system.
---> In the interlocking plant of LION my control switches connect to +12V DC on one side of the switch, and -12V DC in the reverse position. The middle pole controls the switch machine. Typicaly anll interlocking toggles are DOWN in the Normal position, and a toggle is moved UP to place the device (Switch Machine or Home signal into the reverse position.
From the console where these switches are located you connect to the home end to the cable that goees out ontgo the layout.
VERY EASY... Yeah, Right...
details are at the other end of decat... or on my website on the RESOURCE page. You can download the OPPERATIONS MANUAL... ...well no you can't the link doesnt work. I will have to fix that in the morning. sorry ET
I haven't read that in a while!
Cold, windy and rainy for the weekend here in NE Ohio.
I'll be at the layout running the new Rapido EP-5 Jet. So far it looks like a winner. Very smooth operation and pulls about 13 passenger cars up a 1.75% grade with ease.
NH_EP5_Jet by Edmund, on Flickr
I hope everyone is doing well these days. Good to hear from Jimmy Braum again.
Looks like I snagged the top of the page. Friday? Sounds like a good time for a fish fry!
Before:
Fish Fry 057 by Edmund, on Flickr
After:
Thanks for the Passenger Car photos, TF!
Leap of faith:
Near Palmetto, Florida, 1992.
Enjoy!
You're welcome Jim. Glad you enjoyed it. I too have a soft spot for '80s country. I like a lot of 90s country too, but you are right, it isn't really country anymore. It's pop with a twang. I basically quit listening to country about a decade ago. Can't remember the last time I heard a steel guitar in a new song.
Mike
Hi Everyone,
Just watched the "My Baby Thinks He's a Train" video. I had long forgotten about that song. Just for everyone's edification, the song was originally released in 1981 and produced by Rodney Crowell. At the time I think Rodney and Rosanne were still married. The very hot guitar picking was provided by none other than Albert Lea, who was a former band mate with Crowell when they were with Emmy Lou Harris. I had to look a little bit of this up to jog my memory, but when I listened to the track, I thought it was Lea; however Vince Gill and Ricky Skaggs can play similar to that. Googling it verified what I suspected. I always liked 80s country. It was still country...to a point.
Mike: thanks for the video. Not only were the train pictures great, but it brought back a pleasant memory.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
BroadwayLion
Guess lions can't read.
Good grief, get a room!
BroadwayLion That is about as far as I can go without being chopped off for promoting polytics.
That is about as far as I can go without being chopped off for promoting polytics.
When my daughter graduated from college, the commencement speaker was Angus King, the Senator from Maine. He was there because one of his offspring was also graduating. In his speech, he mentioned that politics is a compound word, with poly meaning many, and tics referring to small annoying insects. My daughter's boyfriend was incensed, not for any party affiliation, but because he was a biologist, and a tic has eight legs, not six, and is therefore not an insect, but rather an arachnid.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
York1Of course, I still have to install some switch machines, and I don't see any other way to do that except to go under. Not looking forward to that.
Yes, we are too old to climb under tables. But of course, I assume you are using tortoise switch machines, so we start this bakwards and work to the finished product.
I drill a 3/8 or 1/2 inch hole under the switch points.
Then I wire the tortoise. You need light weight wires to rhis to work. Since you have a computer you will have several unused parallel port printer cables. (If not a friend will hasve some) Cut the ends off, slit the jacket and holding the wires in one hand and the jacket in the other hand, rip them out one from the other.
You will be left holding either 25 wires or if it was a newer cable you will be holding 25 pair of wires (all the better). Separate the wires or the pairs. Keep pears together. (applesalutely!)
Solder 4our pair to the tortoise. Make them just long enough.
NEXT, feed the instructions to wehastever sort of a beast that you keep at home.
[I was just watching a fire video of a warehouse fire in Brookly, and two pigs walked out of the building.]
Now carefully center the actuator on the tortise and put a glob of sillycone caulk on the face if it, keeping it away from the acktuator.
Thread the acktuator up through the hole in the table (this is why you needed such a big hole) and then threasd it up through the hole in the throwbar.
Slide the tortoise until the switchpoints are also centered and there is no fore - aft stress on the acktuator, and press the tortoise to the table bottom. So you are above the track, and only yoyur left hand is under the table setting the tortoise in place. It should stay, but if kneaded a length of gorrila tape will hold it until the sillycone sets.
Once set, feed the wires through the fascia and connect as required.
A chip off the old block Mike. Johnny Cash's daughter Rosanne sure can play that guitar! Liked the Train video with it.
Sounds great you have your trains running again John and that your styrene i-beams came in yesterday. I know you'll have fun starting your new bridge.
I remember Lion posting all the wiring in the front panels that flipped up. It made pur-fect sence simplifying things (Edit) for VERY EASY future access. Hopefully he posts a picture of that one again.
That thread was hilarious as the Photoshop pictures were certainly funny. If I know Kevin I would bet that was his kind of humor as well.
I had asked Kevin for a picture of him in a crowd to post in the Waldo thread but poof it was gone. This is Kevin (red shirt, upper right) at the Warped Concert.
It appears he had just begun to be passed overhead or had just finished. It looked like he knew how to have fun in his younger days. I hope he returns soon as he is missed around here.
Good Morning,
Day 4 of our quarantine. Unlikely we were exposed but my wife says it is possible she was since she was in the doc's office. She will close a window if someone walks by on the street as they could be emitting covid. I have tried to explain air currents and volume to no avail. She is a very smart person but logic goes out when you have extreme anxiety.
John, I read and enjoy all your posts. Do keep us informed about your layout progress.
I too like the big cat photos Lion is posting. I count myself very fortunate indeed having seen lion, cheetah and leopard on our safaris in Africa.
Think I may watch some train dvds today. I have a set of 3 that were shot mostly around here in 1957, 1958 and 1959. They are unusual as they were done with sound.
The snow is slowly melting which is how we want it to avoid flooding. Even so the floodway will be in use. It is a huge ditch dug around the city to divert large flows of water in the Red River. It saved our bacon in '97 and even then was a close call so it was dug wider and deeper. Cost a fortune as many bridges had to be rebuilt. Just gòogle Wiñnipeg, flood of 1997 to see what I mean.
Time for another coffee.
Brunhilda, coffee with cream, please.
Just dropping in to say hello. Work was interesting last night In that I feel like I actually accomplished something. I had been auditing some of our back stock, meaning making sure the physical inventory matched what the computer says we have and vice versa, and came across this wire shelf that was installed upside down. I showed it to one of the supervisors and he offered to help re-install it if I wanted to do it. So, last night we re-installed the shelf. The initial installation had crimped the side support brackets around the wire shelf, so armed with only a claw hammer and an adjustable wrench, we proceeded to pry it apart and reverse it. After several minutes of hard labor, we got the shelf re-installed and I was able to finish auditing that section before it was time to go home. It was a very small victory, but I felt satisfied.
Nothing MRR to report for the moment.
hon30critterHi John, I always enjoy your posts, especially those where you take the time to respond to everyone else's posts. We need more of that in the forums. Thanks for your contributions! Cheers!! Dave
Good morning, Dave.
I live in an isolated area of the country, and I know only one other model railroader here, and his is basically a collection of Lionel trains.
So I don't have friends or clubs close by with the same interests.
That's why I love the diner on the forum -- it gives me a sense of a group of friends, even though I'm pretty much alone out here. Thanks!
York1Those of you who read this thread, how about posting some comments!
Hi John,
I always enjoy your posts, especially those where you take the time to respond to everyone else's posts. We need more of that in the forums. Thanks for your contributions!
Cheers!!
Woke up to this song this morning. Thought if anybody, maybe Mr Track Fiddler would appreciate it.