Welcome back everyone and welcome to November. I hope you had a great weekend and got a lot done, let's get started. Saturday: Ang and I got up a bit early, cleaned up and headed to her Dad's place where we picked him up and headed to Indiana, a mere 15 minutes away. We searched a few places, mainly Attica, Layfette and Terre Haute and towns in between. I'm not big on cities so I'm not keen on Terre Haute and definitely not Layfette. Attica is looking promising as the town is a decent size, people we encountered were friendly, internet isn't an issue and there are busy tracks with a class 1 RR in town. We are still in the research phase but still fun to think about. Sunday: I worked on some track planning in N then turned my attention to taking out the air conditioner, cleaning up the upstairs "common" room. This led me to the decision to set up the N scale City Job and get motivated in slowly rebuilding it as it is only me running it now. I have plans drawn up to rebuild what I have into lighter modules and I plan to rebuild one module at a time as garage space becomes available, which led me to the next project, putting the Harley away for the winter. The Mustang likewise will get her first oil change Friday then go to her winter home in my Father-in-Laws temperature controlled storage. I then cleaned and worked on the pile of RC planes I need to sell and enjoyed giving out candy to all the Trick or Treaters that stopped by, especially my Grand Daughter who was dressed up as a very young wizard of Hogwarts. We then settled down by watching a Halloween episode of The Addams Family. A busy weekend with a lot accomplished. So how about you? What did you get accomplished this past weekend? Let us know. We'll assemble again on Friday the 5th to start the process all over again. Until then, have a great week, be safe, stay healthy and as always... High Greens!
Not much happening this weekend. Friday evening was interesting with our power going on and off. After three or four long flickers it finally went out around 10 PM. It was restored near midnight. Saturday morning, we again lost power around 11 AM for about 20 minutes. Friday’s loss was from the weather and several transformer fires. Saturday was a lost day as both the wife and I felt a little under the weather. Yesterday being Halloween meant getting ready for the trick-or-treaters. I had to put up the outside decorations that only go out on Halloween. We had a steady stream of kids probably about a hundred which is the most in several years. Unfortunately, nothing got done on the layout all weekend.
Good mornin to Y'all, Hope Y'all had great and safe Halloween weekend. I finished decaling the F7's. - Ready to reapply details - then a clear coat. I also completed some prep work on the next F7 project. Have a great week Wolf
Friday, finally bowled well with a 184-236-189 for a 613 Series, team won 7 points and we moved back into first place. Saturday met with club members and we went to breakfast, did not stop at the club, but I did make a stop at the LHS and picked up some Dullcoat (I always keep two bottles as spares), liquid plastic cement, CA and some mixing bottles. Also finished up with all the parts and pieces on a 50' box. Also started on another Red Caboose R70-15 Reefer kit. This is an old McKeen ACF 50' Boxcar kit, I substitued wire grabs for the plastic ones in the kit, new end ladders from my scrabox, walkover platform from Plano, End of Car Cushioning from Moloco and wire brake rodding. Sunday, I painted the roof of the R70-15 Kit, as I like to get the roof painted and masked before attaching all the detail parts and then painting the main body color. Also painted the McKeen 50' Boxcar and an Athearn 2 Bay Hoppper kit. Did some repair work on some completed cars and started masking a 40' trailer. Rick Jesionowski
I began assembly of a module kit. Then decided that I needed a bit of help drilling some holes exactly vertically. So ventured to the hardware store for a drill guide. Back home, traded some model RR chat on the phone with a person who has his finger on the pulse (for real) of the hobby. Was told about a company which is acquiring another couple of small ventures. He did not name the bought entities, but described one which sounded interesting and I am hoping my guess is correct... Then I decided to just sit back and relax. Read a book, watched a non-RR hobby DVD and really enjoyed doing absolutely nothing worth while! Wow. That felt great!
Made some progress on electrical work under the N Scale layout by mounting my power supply shelf and making a few initial connections. I didn't make as much progress as I'd hoped and hit a few setbacks along the way, but at least things are moving forward. Lots of trick-ot-treaters last night, far more than we've seen in years. Our subdivision is now 30+ years old and there's a new generation of young families moving in, buying homes of older residents seeking to downsize. It's a welcome trend.
Good morning all, Well I did not get much done on the layout this weekend. We decided to refinance a loan and working on that took up much of my time and most of my energy. Sunday afternoon I finally got out to the train room and worked on attaching throw bars to several almost finished turnouts and making some frogs and stock rails for more. Had a train with Halloween colors running on the layout while I was doing this. No trick-or-treaters seen in my neighborhood, in fact it was eerily quiet.
Not quite what I planned. This weekend’s progress was mostly made at the entrance to the classification yard. The pair of #8 turnouts were installed, as well as two #6 turnouts that were salvaged from an old layout. Also built a #4 wye using the #8 jig and had to freehand the frog! Also roughed in tracks for the rolling mill and furnace with code 100 flex. These will vary when I have structures in place and more Code 83 or 70 available. Also, (not pictured) built three Walthers UTLX tank cars. Two will be for the oil transfer facility and one for one of the chemical plants. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Saturday went as planned: I pulled the tallpiers I built 2weeks ago and set them aside. Cut shims to square them up so I could get snug, level fit, tight to the boitom of the bridge. Spent significant time on final height adjusting then glued them in w/ Liquid Nails. Then it was off to a football taiilgate and then game. Sunday I spent time at the work bench tuning cars and a couple of structures.
Wow so much undone. For me that is. Chores Saturday and earlier today too. Went by the Train Show at Helena Sports Complex. I did not do much on the covered hoppers other that what I had stated Friday. I have developed a better plan for installing end frames and will get those done soon. Halloween evening I went for a roast "beast" sandwich. Looked at costumed shoppers. Then I searched for a sit down location for a chocolate shake. I drove around a lot without success. I must have driven twenty miles. Frustrating. Anyway, I will try again in a little while. Gotta' fuel the modeler! Have a great week!
Saturday started out busy getting things ready for Halloween. Due to our area we had trick or treaters both Saturday and Sunday. I was able to finish the decoder install on my RSD12. Now it is complete other than a couple missing grab irons that are being replaced soon. Decaled another NW2 and pulled out a Bachmann 0-60- to work on. That will have more work other than just removing factory lettering. It needs metal wheels on the tender and the front knuckle is a dummy. I will need to figure out something with that. Today I purchased another BLI 2-8-0. My stack of locos needing programming is increasing in size. I have three more to add when the decals are on. Then I have more on order. I may have a problem…. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hardcoaler. Thanks for posting. I really like the guard basket over the electronics. Awesome idea. While I have yet to bang into electronics under my layout, Mr. Murphy says it is only a matter of time.
Halloween weekend ended up being more oa trick than a treat when it came to making it to the layout. Seems like the free time I was expecting just vaporized so nothing to report from me for yet another weekend. Some possible changes on the horizon at work could mean so less stressful weekends in my future, hopefully. Here's hoping you all have a great first week of November!
Got to test my eventual DCC wiring with my DC controller and a locomotive and I’m amazed it worked. So should work with DCC. It’s not pretty, but the terminal block and terminal joiners worked. So it looks good. If it works on DC I should be able to test with DCC right? I’m scared kidding sort of. It's only 2' x 4' so I put one pair of terminal joiners at the far end away from me and one pair closest to me cause they are long, and tested running the locomotive on 1/2 of the layout. I did it on top so I could make sure everything was wired right and if something went wrong react quickly Both terminal joiners are Black wires so I have Blue painters tape on them and on the Red wire coming from the DC controller. So I call the Solid Black wire my Common, and they go on the Outside of the track, and the Blue taped wires my Positive, and they go on the Inside of the track? So if I added some to the inner loop ( do I need too ), then the Common would be on the Outside track again, and the Positive on the Inside, correct? Do I need 4 connections on a 2' x 4' base? I have 2 bases to form an L! Man my Tech II has seen better days. I have had it for over 30 years now Of course I use my Bachmann EZ Command for DCC now anyway! Till/If I upgrade one day? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I decided that instead of painting *everything* engine black on by 1946 Varney Docksider, I wanted to paint the bell bronze. I had silver, gold, and two shades of copper, but no bronze. None at the local train shop either. I found a shade (or three) that I liked on hobbylinc, so I ordered several and then, since I was already ordering, and since they ship for free if you order over $95, I added a bunch of model rocket motors that I've been meaning to order for some time. The next day, I ordered a keep alive from Model Train Market, and today I ordered a bunch of electronic parts to make my own keep alive circuits. The parts I ordered will make at least four for the price of less than two premade ones. We'll see how the purchased one, and the homemade ones compare.
I had low expectations and I met 'em. Picked a drawing for testing laser settings. Decided on the initial speed and power levels. Made some adjustments to the x-y spread sheet that will guide my next arc-cutting attempt. Now I just need to implement the changes this week. Not many trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood. The small cluster of stores nearby held an afternoon party that looked very well attended. I think that took the place of traditional, after-dark roaming. My daughter and fiance' handed out 756 pieces of candy at their place. I may have to eat that much leftover at our house! Stay safe,
