For the first time in many years, I hit the jackpot at railroad club train show this weekend! Have NOT seen anything I realy needed, or just had to have in many years! Yesterday and today, I was able to land the following G Scale stuff! GM promotional GE U-25B by Aristo Craft. Test run only! From 2001. Stroh's Beer wood reefer by Delton Alaskan Beer wood reefer by USA Trains GM promotional caboose by Aristo Craft. Part of set with the U25B. From 2001. Local individual that had the locomotive and caboose. Found out about caboose this morning! Said he found it last night. Thought he had sold it years ago! Figured I might want it, to go along with locomotive. Also included were a couple of freight cars. Got a couple of N Scale things as well. Different time, different thread! Starting to crash, so will not be posting anything more tonight!
Not really sure. Could be added to service contract, if you wanted, for an extra $650 or so, from what I saw of paperwork fellow had, when I looked at unit yesterday. Gotta research it some now!
Paid $300 for everything. $100 for both reefers, from show vendor. One listed at $50, the other at $60. Offered $100 for both. From same guy that figured an HO craftsman wood kit was worth $10 MORE, because it was laser cut! $150 for locomotive, from a show visitor. And $50 for the caboose. Didn’t know he had the caboose! Said he found it Sat night. Thought it was sold off years ago!
Gentleman had some listings from ebay. Showed that model, NOT name, going anywhere from $250 to well over $500. I haven't looked, so I don't really know. Yet! He thought $200 was too much and $100 too low. He said $175, I was at $125. Met in the middle at $150. Shook on it, and I had cash the next morning for it! Not knowing he had come across the matching caboose!
Received my package with Airwire receiver and sound for the GE unit as well as the NW-2 cow/calf set. Waiting one a second Airwire receiver. Since I aggravated my left wrist/hand again, I don’t know when I’ll get around to installing stuff! Still gotta finish rebuilding rear shocks on a Traxxas Desert Racer truck! Front is done. Had to replace a shock shaft, since left front was bent, after someone racing the WRONG way hit me head on! Upgraded several parts to aluminum. Hope to start work on trains again soon. Curious to see the U25 in action, with full sound! Video when I get a chance!
Following is a listing from eBay in Germany for a set consisting of the loco, caboose and three matching freight cars. Price is €889, or about $1,000. The listing notes that there was a production run of 500 sets. https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s...wertrain-set-gm-goodwrench/956332323-249-2015
Took a look and at that listing. Nice looking set. Be neat IF I could locate the freight cars from the set, to complete it! Probably cost my first born, and right leg! However, I’ll offer left leg instead, since it’s got more problems! Many Thanks for the information!
Well, Started working on Airwire and sound install on the USA NW-2 cow/calf set. Calf wired. But does NOT respond to throttle. Board chirps when power applied though. Shows board is getting power. Frequencies are same, so that shouldn't be a problem. Tried the cow unit last night, and had major issues! But, those were my fault! Think I crossed the power pick ups! Gonna try that one again shortly. Making sure everything is wired right! Think the U25 is gonna need help from someone, to install Airwire board and sound! If I can't get the cow/calf set working, I may need help with those as well. To a point, I can't believe I'm having this many problems! Pretty straight forward install.
That’s what worries me now! Have someone from Denver area willing to take a look. Kevin did the work I needed, shortly after I got my K27 and got radio control and sound installed. He stopped by over the summer, when I opened the trains up to railroad club. Gonna check the cow unit tomorrow. Maybe I can get it to run! Calf powers up, but does not respond to throttle.
Finished wiring work late last night! NW-2 cow powered up and worked! Never could get the calf unit to respond. Talked to a friend, about a couple of ideas I had. Connected track power pick ups between units, so I now have a 24 point power pick up, instead of 12. Also connected ALL motors together. With plugs between units, to make transport easy! With at least 1 more micro plug, so I can get a working headlight on the calf unit! Gotta pull cow apart again. Gotta swap a couple of plugs! When I go forward, headlight comes on. When I reverse, can lights up! No rear headlight! Gotta swap those 2 plugs! Also gotta find a suitable spot for the programmer plug to be installed. Once that’s done, I think I can start working on the U25 next! That ones gonna be a challenge I think! Might try and get a short video of the NW-2’s in action tomorrow, weather permitting. Need to test on a long track! A test track with 3 inches testing space just not gonna work!! Contacted CVP, makers of the Airwire board, regarding the failed board. Keeping fingers and toes crossed. And if it helps, I’ll try to cross my eyes too!
Worked on the U-Boat over the last 3 days! Finally got the Airwire board and sound installed. Wired as it should be. Powered up, and tried to cook the wiring again! Had issues with a short again! So, pulled ALL plugs apart, and started from scratch.Turns out, the connections to the Adapt-a-Board were wrong!Polarity at the board was reversed. Again! Once I swapped wires, things started working! Neither board was cooked! Just had to swap light and motor wires. Got 2 horns, and the locomotive reversed! And 3 blasts, and it went forward! Lights were just the opposite! Just epoxied the Phoenix programmer plug in place. Now, I can TRY to put the @#$%^&* body back on! And hope I can get the wires out of the way, so it sits on chassis properly!Lots of long, heavy, stiff wire to work with! Despite the issues, I ran the thing outside for a very short time. Ran OK, sounded pretty good! Think I gotta clean my track a bit better. Cleaned it enough to do some test running. Overall, I'm satisfied with the effort. Video in action to follow, eventually!
Hope to get some video, after the nasty weather leaves! Should be able to do better, since I just recieved my new throttles today! Have a new T5000 throttle, and a T1300 OPS throttle. Perfect for visitors. The OPS throttle designed for operation only, and can NOT be used for programming! So, an operator can not accidentally, or intentionally program something with this throttle! Used the T5000 with the U-Boat for a couple hours today. Did NOT take too long for me to like the operation and feel of this throttle over the older T9000. And only 2 AAA batteries, instead of 4! The OPS throttle is USB rechargeable LiPo battery. Can't comment on it yet, since I haven't tried using yet. Still charging!
Have had chance to use both new throttles. Both are really very Nice! Did some snow plowing last time it snowed. Snowing again! Saying we’re gonna get another “bomb cyclone” storm! I get to miss it all. Stuck in hospital again! Been here week and a half! Massive abscess, 1 severely infected toe joint, 2 severely infected bones. Infected parts and 2 toes removed first thing last Saturday morning! Hope it does NOT affect Red Green show in Denver on the 28th, of catching the BigBoy, as it heads out of Cheyenne on May 4. Can use the power of prayer again! Dialysis 3 times this week. Drs are pushing a kidney biopsy, to see if there’s an underlying reason kidneys not functioning right, at the moment.
