Yuppers got that right !!! We've been together for 33 years...I must be doing something right...lol ;-)
On the advise/suggestion of friends...I have plotted out my Interchange Track. As many have said " Your layout needs to serve a purpose other then going roundy-roundy !" The track will come off the main near Lucky Penny Yard and head South under the bridge and along Hwy 68. I have and old #6 turnout and am thinking I will gut it and solder the point rails for through traffic so there is NO chance a train will pick the points and smash into a train awaiting orders to enter Lucky Penny Yard. I will put some older cars and one of my non-DCC locomotives on the Interchange track and have it stopped just before the Frontage Road coming into Georgetown. The gates will remain up till the orders are given to move into the yard ;-)
Nice passenger train there George. I understand the baggage car got a new floor, sound system, DJ.s desk and is used as a dance hall. Nice! Looking mighty fine.
Great location for an interchange track George! I wouldn't be so quick to make it unusable (non-operational), as it wouild make for great switching opportunities much like any other industry trackage. Jerry
WOW!! Just realized...I have been a REGISTERED TrainBoard nut for 5 years this month. I lurked here awhile before I joined up too. Time really does fly when you're having fun
Congrats on the time! Really liked the silver passenger set, even if it ain't steam! Time just flies when the trains are running!
THE Wife does want a Bachmann 2-8-0 to change out with the E5 from time to time. I told her it has to be DCC. Then I asked her if she really wanted to shell out that kind of money and HOPE it will climb the 2 percent grade ;-)
Whatever happened with the troublesome FV loco? Did you try adding some weight to it to see if it would help with the grade climb?
I did Glenn ;-) I taped some fishing weights on top. It helped a little. BUT....I dont see anywhere I would be able to permanently put any additional weight :-( The thing will pull 10 cars just fine...never slip. If I add 1 more to make it 11 cars...it struggles. 1 more car for 12...no way...just sits and spins its wheels :-( I know in the 1:1 world you would probably seldom see a single locomotive like this pulling cars. But I also think that in the 1:1 world....2 big ol' locomotives pulling just 12 cars would look...I dunno...funny/wierd.
Hi George, You might call it Interesting and not funny/wierd. Okay I admit that they both are not pulling, but 2 locos with only 3-7 cars. Both images came from the thread STOP on TrainBoard Gary
George, a while back CSX ran 12 locomotives hauling 1(!) boxcar between Mobile and New Orleans. So if CSX can do it, I don't see why T.H.E.R.R. can't. hboy:
I guess with one loco on the front and one on the rear off a short cut of cars...one could say CSX doesnt know whether its coming or going...lol Again...CSX with 12 locos and one boxcar...you would think someone woulda got on the radio and told em they left the other 99 cars in Mobile...LMAO. But seriously...I have to think these are examples of funny/weird rather then the norm. I am about ready to make this big brute a yard switcher...where it can handle a cut of 3 or 4 cars and not break a sweat or spin a wheel ! ;-) Hmmmmmm...maybe I should totally de-weight 12 cars and it will pull 12 like I want it to. Then again....its pulling 10 cars...and I'm living with it ;-)
The ten car rule for a locomotive on my railroad is pretty dammed realistic. The Grand Canyon Railroad, their single, diesel locomotives won't pull more then ten cars up their 2+% grades. If I purchase a locomotive that can't (as in can not) pull ten cars up my 2+% grades (I send it to you...heeheehee...no, I mean, unless you want it.) it usually goes back to the seller with a note explaining why I don't want it. How about your Bmann Northern? Won't it pull those five passenger cars up your grades? I have two here that pull my ten car passenger trains up the varied 2% grades. Of course I have Micro-trains and/or Kato wheelsets and knuckle couplers and I keep the cars on the lighter side of 2 1/2 ounces. They aren't smooth runners, staggering and looping along the right of way, but they make the pull. I have some Bmann, 2-8-0's I purchased from Tom Stumpf and they pull quite nicely. I keep thinking your track is slick for some reason. Reminds me of when I happened to inadvertently OOP's and got WD 40 on the rails. It took forever to wear it off.
Hey Rick. You can send me all your 'unwanted' stuff. You know I love to tinker with that stuff. Thats where THE Wifes passenger train came from folks...my friend Rick. It works and THE Wife is happy...so I am too. The 4-8-4 is new...problem is...its NOT DCC...which from what I read is a pain to accomplish. I'm more of a plug-n-play decoder guy ;-)