Well..Good bye! I have moved the layout to the storage shed where it can grow cobwebs and anything else it wants! W3 are supposed to relax and enjoy the hobby. I did that with the buildings and the scenery ans all that. but the trains part made me mad as he!! !! Anyway, i may not be here for awhile. I am removing all the train stuff for now and i don't know if i want another layout or if i will just sale it all and say goodbye for good. Thanks for the help and friendship. Good bye, Dan
Wow. We all hit frustrating moments. Sorry to see you step away. The nice part is the ease which you can get back into it again.
Dan... I can understand the frustration on locomotives that make ya wanna quit. I bought a brand new ES44AC that ran fine...at first. I took it apart to clean it. After a year of utter frustration with not being able to get it running again......and wanting to throw the Damn thing as far as I could...I finally gave up on it. I do have a few other locomotives that have been running fine for years. The POS Es44AC now resides on the 'deadline'...where I can glare at it everytime I run other trains. Like you...I wont let a 'hobby' get the better of me ! Step back...take a breather...and go at it again. It can/will be fun again...trust me.
Wow! I just read this entire thread. I'm sorry for your troubles, Dan. I hope the frustration and the cold subside and you feel like carrying on with the project. Mostly, I hope you have a complete recovery and your wife, too.
Having health issues can be a total bummer as I well know. A lot of my plans have been severely curtailed due to those issues and it is hard to concentrate on anything when you just don't feel right. So put the effort into recovering, hopefully soon. I had a number of the little Bachmann 4-4-0s and when new right out of the box they ran great. But they are old technology from the dark days of N scale at best. I had two that were converted into 4-6-0s and could not be beat for pulling power. Unfortunately the Bmann elected to use Zimac in the tender wheel bogies and about 8 years later they could not pull themselves out of their own way. So much drag on those tender wheels that it was like the tenders were glued to the track. Ordered replacement tender trucks complete with wheels and springs to cure the problem and found the replacements were already going to Hades, plus poorly cast on top of that. About that time the rest of my unconverted 4-4-0s also began to experience the same issues. Today one remains as a cab boarded up piece of scrap to sit in the weeds behind the engine house. I replaced two of them with the Atlas 4-4-0 a far superior loco.
I was thinking about the atlas one. But am thinking about going to the 1950's and running first gen diesels. I think i could run a sw1500 s-1000, rs1's Something like that. Right now am just not interested.
It's unfortunate that a locomotive is going to be the reason for the death of the empire, but there is no point in getting stressed over a hobby. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
One could consider the 44 and 70 tonners which are nice units. Small but pull well and both are dual mode decoders that run on DC or DCC. And so far they have run flawless for me.
Burn out is a bummer. Take a short break then comeback. Hey maybe a change in scale is due. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Dan , I certainly support your decisions and hope the urge to do trains returns some time. I am now amassing a few model kits from my childhood and buying a camp trailer, just to take my mind in a different direction for awhile. Thanks Dan and Deb, Mike & Robin
Mike, I am staying in N scale. The layout will be about a foot longer or so. Still a logging R.R.. Plan using 1st Generation Diesels like the 44 ton two face. Maybe s-1 or a early rs1. Not sure too much yet. Thinking about early 1940's I won't start this one till after we get down to a new place to park. This place is just too crazy to live in. I like the VA Health care system but this place scares the hell out of Deb. I am not too thrilled about it and i don't like citys at all, but the area is so grown up there are so many people here and they drive like New Yorkers in Manhattan. Looking at a small town about 1500 people. Maybe even find some kind of hobby shop to help ya out. I am striping the old layout down and will be getting a new piece of foam to start with. John, Who makes the 44 ton models? Hope not Bachmann. Not wanting to much to do with them after that phone call. I still can't believe that call!! Its also not just the engines. There was somethings that i just didn't like. And it would take to much to fix it so that is why i am starting over. A friend that is in another forum has built and tore his layout down about 4-5 times now. He is build it over again right now. I guess if he can do it i can too! As long as i make it better i guess thats what counts. I have a list of things i do want and don't want. I have a few months before i try it again. After the move i will take a small break and continue to work out a model that i like. I liked this one till i was into the building parts. I had to make severial changes to get what i had. Still don't like it so it will be a new layout. Keven, Have way too much invested in N scale to switch . Staying with N and i can use most of the same track, and the buildings and trees. I will need more trees. I am stripping out the old board and packing it up into crates so as to protect the models. Have the buildings, track, turnouts all the cars but need different engines. I have one rough plan i am working on right now, But don't think i will use it. To many things that just don't look right. I got time. So i can work on that. If i am not ready when i want to start, so be it. Don't have any rush. I think i was doing some of that before. not this time. Anyway, Merry Christmas!! Lets all hope for a way better New Year, Dan
Well, The family is gone headed home. Dishes done and leftover abound. I had such a good Christmas! Was the first time in 8 years since we had family around for the holidays! Didn't want them to leave. Couldn't believe just how much i had missed them till they had to leave. I didn't want them to leave. We are going up to them at spring to visit. They want us to move up that way. Don't know. I had it rough here this year. don't know what a 100 mile north move would do to me or Deb. We could see each other all the time that way. Have to think about that one. Am thinking about the original plan to move south somewhere along the gulf coast. Small towns. Something to think about....Did i say i didn't want them to leave??? Dan
I can relate Dan.... My oldest lives 650 miles away in Nevada My second oldest lives 1350 away in Oregon My youngest lives 700 miles away in Colorado My oldest came into town for Thanksgiving...was great !!!! My youngest came by in August...was super !! I havent seen my middle child in over a year...they live to far away !! We will all get together in Vegas in June...when my second oldest gets married !! We miss them all...everyday ! My wife and I consider ourselves the luckest and happiest 2 people on the planet. We hear from each of them weekly. WE got a call from all of them Christmas morning ! It warms the heart.
Merry Christmas. Hate to tell you this but 44 tonners are made by Bachman. Atlas makes the Alcos you want. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Dan , Glad you had a Great Christmas and hope you can get the layout and the move all figured out. Hope you are feeling well also. Mike & Robin
Agreeing with Kevin that yes both the 44 and 70 tonners are Bachmann products. That said they are among the best of their production in the last several years and they have had some winners and losers. All their earlier products sooner or later suffered split gears and other issues. With the introduction of the newer 2-8-0 steamer, not the version with the Wooten firebox, they started a gradual improvement of products. For the last 8 or more years they have managed to release a number of good runners. However there are still a bunch of the older stuff out there, a lot being sold on the evil bay for ridiculous pricing, that is simply not worth the grief or effort. You would have thought by now that the company would have upgraded the little 4-4-0 but alas not. About the only changes that have occurred have been a slightly newer version of a motor and a little thinner drive shaft between the tender mounted motor and the loco. Originally I was using the Lifelike SW mechanisms under my scratch built Class A Climax types and some other small critters. Based on the good reports I observed when the 44 tonner hit the market I eventually purchased two and was very happy with what I had. Then I acquired several of their 70 tonners and again great performance, so much so they became the chassis to go to for my critters including redoing my Class As on the 70 ton chassis. About 2 or 3 years ago I embarked on a project to test which locos in my stable of power would be able to navigate under a 9.75 inch radius since I wanted to downsize, and fit a layout into a tighter space, which would necessitate some tighter curvature if it were to work. Locos tested that would run on less than 9.75 included the LL SWs, and Atlas and Kato RS1 through 3 and the Atlas Shay along with the 44 and 70 tonners. The 70 ton version, although with a slightly larger wheelbase that the 44 ton, can actually navigate much tighter radius down under 8 inch than the 44 ton can. Running performance of those locos on DC is much better than the racehorse speeds that the LL SWs have. And the plus is that they have dual mode decoders which means I can run those locos on another layout I am visiting that is DCC. My modeling has evolved to a smaller layout style with a decidedly narrow gauge flavor and short line operation that features mining, quarrying, logging, and some general freight operations and the smaller power fits right into that and some 8 and 9 inch radius. As far as trying to determine a excellent product there is an excellent source to tap into as far as performance and quality evaluations. http://www.spookshow.net/trainstuff.html And then there are some of the old timers kicking around on this board as to whether something is even worth the effort in time or money.
