Today was one of those days where all that you can do is just walk away and come back another day. On most any given day my trains run flawlessly. Then comes that one day where there's some kind'a strange power fluctuation going on, a problem area developes in the track and things start to derail where they never did before, locos uncouple from their lashups as well as cars, etc. You just know that, if you continue to try to operate, things are going to end up on the floor. Today, most of these things began to happen and then my Kato SD45 suddenly started making some horrible grinding noise like I've never heard before. It turns out that the flywheels were suddenly rubbing the inside of the shell, requiring some shell modification. I figure that, since my garage has no climate control, significant temperature changes outside play a part in all of this (I have had one bad track kink on a real hot day). But, for tonight, all that I can do is just walk away... [ 08 July 2001: Message edited by: tehachapifan ]
The best remedy sometimes IS just to walk away. A friend of mine who is in O scale told me about a friend of his who recently passed away. His friend loved to work on brass O scale steam loco's and cars, and when he would get very angry, he would take a car and throw it down, and once flat out stepped on a brass tender then proceeded to kick it around (now that is really mad! LOL From what I hear, (on the tender any way) he was as good at fixing them as he was at breaking them, and he repaired most of what he bashed. My temper can get bad, but not that bad!
I know exactly how you feel, there are days the layout will operate flawlessly and then other times I won't have a problem all day. I usually have problems when I have visitors come to see my layout operating yet when I'm home alone it will run like a dream. I suppose I can put it down to Murphy's law, that guy has a lot to answer for
I remember old Murphy well...he used to stay with me for long stretches of time! I have never been able to just walk away. The best I can do, is shrug my shoulders, grit my tooth (and a gum), and stomp away! Women are like that, they have a good day, and then..... Well, so, ah, that's why steam engines are referred to as "she". OOPS, another bad day coming!
I had one of those days myself! I had a box of cars that I was transporting to the layout, which is located a short distance from my home. Opening the car door to get in, I dropped the box! Well, I did kind of catch some of it, and kept most of them from hitting the ground (cement carport floor). Damage minimal as far as a quick look revealed, so I proceeded to the layout. Getting out of the car, I had the box on the top of another box. I thought it was secure, but it shifted! I tried to catch it this time by trapping the box between what I was still holding and the car door. I was partially successful. The rest of the cars went to the ground (gravel parking lot). Damage assessment: some broken stirrips, some lost wheels, and some other minor parts missing. I never did find all the pieces, but my day was still not complete. I decided that rather than work on the layout, that I would take the broken cars back home and do some repairs. While I was at it, I could do some work on some other cars and some engines that needed some adjustments. I set the box containing the "injured" on a corner of the layout and proceeded to place one Atlas GP40 and one Kato GP50 in the box with them--the engines outweighed the cars, upset the balance keeping the box on the layout, and away they all went! I tried to stop or soften the blow of the box hitting the cement floor from 50" above by bouncing the falling box off of my foot. Well, I guess I was partially successful again! Damage: The shell was knocked off the Atlas engine, and the trucks needed a little adjusting; but it seemed to work okay. The Kato had a small scuff on the dynamic brake blister, but nothing serious. The cars were blasted apart again, but they were already in need of repair; so nothing much lost on them. I decided about then that it was time to go home. From the way my day was going, I didn't think that it was going to be a good day to play trains. My wife sure was surpised to see me come home so early!
I understand....maybe it's a full moon or something. I had trouble too this weekend. I had a bunch of kids over to the house and they all wanted to see the trains. Now, Thursday, I did some testing and cleaning and everything ran a minimum of 10 laps around without a hitch. Yesterday, I couldn't make it half way around without a derailment, stall or something. ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGgg.....almost makes me want to take up sewing or basket weaving. Jeff Augsburg & Concord R.R. (a fictional shortline in Central Illinois) http://www.geocities.com/revnjeff/index.html
Yes, Murphy comes over to my house to run my trains occasionally. Usually when I am hosting an N-trak meeting. I once had a brand new Atlas SD-60 go on the ground (as in the floor, from 48" high), while showing my layout to a fellow club member. I was just glad it wasn't one of his Kato F-7's that he brought to run (always look for the bright side of things). Actually the SD-60 hit squarely on the front pilot and was easily repaired. At a recent Gats event the O guage guys were set up next to us and I was very suprised that they had more trouble keeping those big things on the track than we have ever had. Inhaled a lot of fake train smoke that day.
Greetings Jennifer! I was hoping to draw some response from Linda. She is probably going to "eat my lunch!" HA! We haven't heard from you for so long, I thought you had given up on us old Crudge Muggins. Welcome back, stay awhile and tell us about your experiences. Ever have a "bad Day?" After Linda gets through bashing me about it, she will probably tell everyone the the old timers referred to their engines as "She" because we fell in love with certain engines. That is the truth too. It isn't that way today I understand, because the guy seldome runs the same engine enough to get to know it. Dick, I refuse to answer that on the grounds that it might cause the guilty to confess!
Yep, "just walk away"! That's how I handle bad days now. My mood may not improve for a while, but it's the best thing to do. Had a few teanse moments during set-up at Galesburg RRD's, I chose to stay clear of most of the problem, let the "experts" handle it. Things were different when I was a kid. I'd take out my "Trusty RedRider" and pop off a few .177cal BB's into any offending piece of HO rolling stock.(DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS!) It made me feel alot better at the time, but I did lose some pieces I wish I now had! One was a Lionel HO Scale GP30, it wasn't supposed to get hit, it rolled by into the cross-fire! The BB hit it dead center, knocking it into the offending boxcar and taking both "over the cliff" and to their deaths on the hard concrete floor!
jennifer....Yea, I think Watash would be better at that than most things Anyway, On My A&A, it seems like every day ins a walk away day.
